


Harvest Moon

by starryroyalty



Series: Zine Pieces [4]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Divergent Timelines, Grimdark, Hide and Seek, Horror, M/M, Pumpkin Party Zine, Tricksters, split timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27380599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starryroyalty/pseuds/starryroyalty
Summary: When a timeline splits, you have to make sure to put it back together before it crashes and burns again.John Egbert knows there's only one winner.Let the game begin.For Pumpkin Party Zine.
Relationships: (it's There lmao), Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, John Egbert & Jade Harley
Series: Zine Pieces [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945693
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Harvest Moon

**Author's Note:**

> It's been quite a long time since I've written Homestuck, and as I've been super fuckin' busy, it took me a bit to get back into the groove of this. 
> 
> Regardless, it was very fun to get back into this fandom again. Cheers!

Something has gone terribly, horribly wrong. 

John doesn’t quite know what it is yet. He wakes up today and stretches, feeling his back pop as he lifts his arms above his head. It takes him a moment to figure out what the unsettling feeling in his chest is; the house is deadly silent.

The defeat of Lord English led the kids to a timeline where everything was going to be alright. Earth C was fashioned to their own making, the carapacians creating kingdoms in their wake. Although there was talk of a maybe democracy, or even a system where Jane ran as president, they quickly agreed that they’d rather just relax and actually do teenager shenanigans instead of running an entire fucking city. 

John frowns at the silence and checks his phone. Normally, he’d have messages waiting for him from Dave, Jade, or even Karkat usually yelling about something exciting or something that they wanted him to watch. Despite this, his phone only has one thread unread with several messages. 

TT: John. 

TT: I realize that this might come as a fuckin’ shock to you, but you’re on your own this time. Before you go blaming Paradox Space again, I’ve been informed that this is an anomaly even to our timeline. Shit shouldn’t have happened like this but here’s hoping you can rewind the fuckin’ clock. 

TT: Or not, y’know, you can let this timeline crash and burn. Don’t let me waste away in the goddamn void again. 

TT: Good luck. Sorry for the hassle. 

“The fuck,” John quietly whispers, squinting at his messages with Dirk. “Striders are still _so weird.”_

Regardless, it’s still the only message sent from anyone. No long-winded speech from any of his friends, but it’s not the weirdest thing that’s happened to him so far so he ignores it. What still worries him though is the silence; Jane would typically wake up and bake anything ranging from cupcakes to sweets, and her humming doesn’t echo through the hallways like it always does. 

With a grunt, John slides off his bed and goes to his door. There’s a moment of hesitation in his steps that John’s learned to heed over the years, so he pauses and presses his body to the door. Still quiet. There’s a faint whiff of candy in the air that feels strangely familiar, so John makes a brilliant decision to turn into the wind and let himself drift downstairs. 

When he sees a very familiar lollipop nestled against the couch, he recoils and solidifies, dropping onto the staircase. John lets out an “OOF” when he lands and springs to his feet, staring in horror at the red and green candy. Jane personally _hated_ lollipops because of her time being a Trickster; it was an experience she never wanted to deal with again, and although she still baked sweets ranging from cakes to brownies, she refused to touch them.

_So why was the original Trickster lollipop sitting in his fucking house?_

John takes a cautious step forward; being out of tune with reality was sometimes tricky, but it allowed him several advantages even as he made his way to the couch. First off, he can feel the way the wind wraps itself around the damn candy and feels entirely too stagnant to be sitting in one spot. The second is that he feels the way time and space warps around the lollipop, and John’s old instincts from SBURB kick in a second later. 

_WOOF._

John throws himself backwards, right as a taloned hand comes slashing down in the spot where he once stood. He yelps as green electricity sparks all over the living room, and he watches as Jade Harley zips in, growling with her teeth bared. She has her hands flexed with her claws out, and she’s staring down at John with sickly neon green eyes, something dripping from her nails.

“Jade?” John asks, eyes wide. “Wait, what the hell is going on? Am I getting pranked? I know Halloween’s coming up, but don’t you think this is a bit excessive? Where’s the camera? Jade, c’mon, I know you’re not _actually_ Grimdark right now! Or...Grimbark?”

As John ponders what trick any of his friends and family could come up with, Jade slashes at him again and snarls, **“You’re a moron, John.”**

“Rude,” John responds, getting up. He goes cross-eyed when Jade thrusts her hand in front of his face, proudly showing off what she’s got. “Your nails _are_ nice, did you sharpen them again—”

He stops. There’s a trickle of blood dripping down her fingers. 

Jade waggles them with a sharp grin and says, **“Are you aware of what that lollipop is, John? You’re supposed to be smart y’know! SBURB objects are your area of expertise, Heir! What happens when you’re too dumb to piece together the clues?”**

Jane’s not singing today.

Dirk’s cryptid texts.

The fact that the fucking Trickster lollipop is popped back into existence when it _shouldn’t_ exist anymore after Rose and Kanaya’s wedding. 

There’s a very cold feeling washing over John as he hoarsely asks, “Did you kill my grandma?” 

**“Oh no,”** Jade says cheerfully, admiring the blood crusting on her claws. **“I killed Jake, that was all Rose’s doing. She’s very precise with her needles! Made sure Jane screamed out her vocal cords before she finally died.”**

_We split from the main timeline._

John swallows the lump in his throat. It’s been about a year or two since any of his friends were killed; they had joked about it, of course, with the immortality that came with being god tier, but no one was close to a Just or Heroic death and would revive. So he normally wouldn’t be concerned, but the fact that Jade is _correct_ means something’s gone wrong with their immortal clock. 

The Heir of Breath lets this information wash over him, and tries to dissipate into the wind again but feels something grasp his entire self. There’s a strange _pop!_ noise, and when John looks back at Jade, he gasps upon seeing a very pink and red Dave Strider standing there with a very familiar head in his hands. 

John ignores the blood dripping on his carpet to faintly say, “Did you make another decapitation joke when you killed Dirk?” 

Dave nods, tears dripping down his face behind his heart sunglasses. It’s been a long time since John’s seen his Trickster form, and it’s still unsettling to look at, since Dave is more open nowadays and laughs out loud without covering his mouth anymore. It’s taken a lot of progress to get there (especially with Karkat) but back in his Trickster, he’s completely silent and constantly crying. 

It’s. It’s very unnerving. John tears his eyes away from the spirals curling on his cheeks and feels his Zillyhoo hammer settle into his hand. It’s been a while since John’s held it, but the weight is comforting as he grips the handle with force. “What’s the plan here, then?” John demands. It’s been so long since SBURB that the adrenaline that fills his body is startling but feels like an old friend. 

(He forgets their entire session took a single day before they started their three-year journey. Thirteen year old John Egbert took to it as a way of adapting to something foreign and terrifying, but twenty-two year old John Egbert is ready to fight for the home they’d built together and to either avenge the death of his friends and family or just create a new timeline.)

Jade says with a bright smile that shows too many teeth. **“We can make this fun, if you’d like, because I’ll have your entrails spilling across the fucking ground by tonight. Jane had to play Operation and Dirk quite obviously played Hangman; Jake’s was tag. Do you have a preference, John? I want you to be terrified before one of us gets you.”**

If they’re playing games, then John has a very stupid, very brilliant idea. There’s a high chance it’ll backfire, and he’ll _probably_ be killed, but it’s a risk he’ll have to take. 

(It’s also quite terrible how fast John got adjusted to this horrible shitty timeline. Does it say a lot that he’s exhausted? How he’s already adapting to the situation, taking note of Jade’s claws and Dave’s reluctance in being a Trickster again? And there’s Rose, shuffling out of the kitchen, ink and void dripping from her eyes and fingertips with her wands coated in blood. Her skin is a deeper shade of gray like the trolls, and her pale blonde hair has gone stark white again. 

It’s been a long time since he’s seen Rose go Grimdark, but the sinking feeling in his gut is still the same.)

“Hide and seek,” John replies, trying to hide the shakiness of his hands by gripping the hammer tighter. “I get to hide anywhere in this universe and you gotta find me by tonight. If I win, then you let me live and turn the timeline back to the way it was. If I lose, you can do whatever you want to me.”

Jade lets out a bark (no pun intended) of laughter, doubling over as she smacks Dave on the shoulder. **“Hide and seek with a Witch of Space?”** She laughs, jabbing a talon at her nose. **“Are you aware I’m part dog, dipshit? You know I can find you in the first hour and the game will be up?”**

“The game hasn’t started yet!” John retaliates. “You gotta give me a head start; it’d suck if you caught me immediately, right? Isn’t there a whole thing where it’s more fun if the victim runs first?”

He’s also trying to appeal to Jade’s doggy instincts; Rose and Dave don’t personally seem to care, but Jade’s head is tilted to the right as she considers her options. John’s ecto-sis seems to really mull it over before she replies, **“Ah, fuck it. Whatever. You get a solid ten minutes before we hunt you down. I wish you would have joined us, but there’s plot armor surrounding you that the lollipop couldn’t break through.”**

 **“?Gniddew ym ta retskcirT saw he”** Rose asks with a frown, turning slowly to look at the Trickster pop. Dave just lets out a high-pitched giggle that makes John shudder. _“Yeah, c’mon Egbert! Don’t you wanna have fun with us?”_

“Holy _fuck_ that’s terrifying,” John wheezes, backing up. “I only gave permission for Rose and Kanaya’s wedding, but not shit like this! Nope, see ya.” With that, he pops out of existence, and Jade harumps as she crosses her arms. **“I wanna hunt him down already,”** she complains to her best friends, tapping her talons on her bloodsoaked shirt. **“Why did I agree to those stupid rules again?”**

 **“.Selur evah uoy tub hctib a er’uoy”** Rose says with a determined quirk of her mouth. Jade finds it admirable that she’s still attempting to fight the control, but once touched by the shadows, it always means they’ll set in easier than others. Jade and Rose fell under the lollipop way too quickly; instead of the Trickster versions they were supposed to become, something backfired and the Horrorterrors had taken hold of Rose again.

With the Condescension dead, they had seized the opportunity to take Jade as well, but Jade Harley didn’t go down without a fight. Thus, instead of turning Grimdark like Rose, she ended up becoming Grim **bark** again, and went after Dave.

Honestly, she doesn’t know what they were expecting; the happy-go-lucky dude at his sister’s wedding? But no; this Dave is constantly crying and stony silent, carrying out his orders with a sort of glumness that no one expected from him. 

A bit shitty, but Jade could work with this. 

Somewhere in the realm of the universe, John Egbert pops into existence again and looks wildly around at his surroundings. They’re a bright gold that hurts his eyes but fills him with a sense of familiarity; he’s back home on Prospit’s moon. 

“If Jade shows up, then I’ll be able to spot her easily,” John reasons to himself as he flies around, waving at a few carapaces that stare at him. “...Or would they let her through since she’s also Prospitan royalty? Shit, maybe I could ask them to _not_ let her know? I’m kinda glad I didn’t end up on Derse, the carapaces probably would’ve hunted my ass down.”

While he’s still pondering, he doesn’t realize there’s someone frantically waving at him. “You fucking moron!” John finally hears the quiet yell from the window of a golden tower. He whips around to see Karkat Vantas flagging his dumbass down; when he flies on over, Karkat snatches John’s PJs and yanks him inside. “Shut the fuck up and keep your voice down,” Karkat hisses, clamping one hand over John’s mouth. “Dave’s been turned into a fucking Trickster and I can’t tell if he was trying to kill or hug me earlier when Jade caught him.” 

“I know,” John murmurs as he gently pushes Karkat’s hand down. Flashes run through his head; the memory of Dave getting impaled on two swords comes to mind, the way Dave choked on his own blood before crumpling on top of Jade, a Heroic death that resonated throughout the timeline. “Something’s gone really bad, Karkat. Dirk texted me before Dave killed him, and he said that this was an anomaly in the timeline? I don’t know what changed, but I’m willing to go back and find out what it was!”

“An anomaly my ass,” Karkat snaps. “I’m having some horrible fucking troll deja vu during this. I didn’t survive several fucking universes to be hunted down by people who turned evil AGAIN, y’know. Do I fucking deserve this? HELL no! I’m not even god tier! I earned my way into this fucking place, damn it! I survived Gamzee’s rampage and Vriska fucking Serket! BullSHIT that I’m gonna die here!”

“We’ll do our best,” John pats him on the head, grinning when Karkat snarls at him. “We’re pretty used to this, right? We’ll figure it out.” 

For once, Karkat doesn’t blow up at him again, but instead looks oddly subdued. “I saw Dirk die,” he begins, and one orange nail digs into his skin. “I thought he was gonna fucking revive like always when him and Jake mess up a spar, but he _didn’t._ It wasn’t even Just or Heroic! That dumbass just fucking DIED! And—and our god tier powers don’t really work, anyways. Dave tried to rewind before the lollipop took over, and he failed. My fucking shitty Blood powers don’t work either, and Kanaya tried to warp outta there with Space before Rose fucking stabbed her. Being a fucking vampire didn’t fucking help because she went down and STAYED down. John, what the _fuck_ is happening?”

“I couldn’t tell you, buddy.” John breathes out. “I’m in a game of hide and seek from Jade. I’m not sure if Rose and Dave are playing? She didn’t explicitly make that clear, but I’m positive she’s going to rip out my intestines if she catches me.” 

There’s a very familiar _pop!_ sound from behind the two of them; John stares at Karkat’s bright red eyes, which look back at him in fear, and then he lets out a very strange gurgling sound that makes John tilt his head, trying to not turn around. “Karkat?”

Karkat looks down to see the tip of a white (now stained red) blade protruding from his stomach. “Dave,” he rasps, and tries to turn to see the darkened heart shades of his boyfriend. “Dave, what the _fuck.”_

 _“Sorry,”_ Dave whispers, still crying. He gently takes his sword out as Karkat stares at the blood starting to pool on the floor. John’s swearing as he tries to apply pressure to the wound. “Karkat?” He asks frantically, not caring that Dave’s still standing there. “Karkat?! Dude, keep your eyes open. Look at me! I’ve had way too many people die in front of me and I’m not looking to add to that list anytime soon. Dude, look at me!”

Karkat’s eyes are starting to go foggy. “Fuck you, Egbert.” He says weakly. “Just beat the fucking game if you can. If I’m gonna die again I might as well say fuck you Strider, you goddamn bastard, I bet this is for me kicking you out of bed a week ago—”

The troll goes slack. John swears several obscenities that Karkat would be proud of, and furiously wipes his tears away. “Come to kill me already?” He snaps at Dave, vaguely horrified that he caught up so fucking fast. “Fucking, I don’t know, do it already! Maybe we can try again in the dreambubbles if they’re still up and running.” 

_“They’re not,”_ Dave quietly confirms as he stares down at his bloody sword. Both their shoes are starting to get soaked in Karkat’s blood. _“Got destroyed when the ghosts fought Lord English. Sorry. I’m really sorry, John.”_

“Are you even in control of yourself right now?” John breathes out, watching as Dave struggles to set down the sword. “What’s your head telling you?”

 _“It fuckin’ hurts,”_ Dave wheezes out, ripping off his heart sunglasses. Up close now, John can see how anguished his eyes are and how there’s a spiral curling in his irises. _“John, John, you gotta fuckin’ kill me, PLEASE. I can’t live like this dude. There’s a Horrorterror in my goddamn head telling me to rip you from limb to limb and I just killed the love of my life and I DON’T want to do that. Please help me, I’m fuckin’ begging you.”_

“I think you’ll die a Just death,” John whispers, heart shattering as Dave nods frantically. “Dude, I can’t do that to you. You could’ve killed me right now. I’m just trying to live until I can reset the timeline.”

A lightbulb goes off in John’s head. 

“WAIT! You’re the Knight of Time!” John grabs onto Dave’s Knight costume, wondering if he put it on before he got technically possessed. “Can’t you rewind us? Or at least hit the reset button for us? I know Jade’s on her way already, I just want to know if I’ve got a chance.”

Dave winces and then attempts to wipe a stream of tears away. _“I CAN’T,”_ he snaps, squeezing his eyes shut. _“I tried when I killed Dirk. God, shit, I killed my fucking brother and Karkat too, and I almost killed you. I can’t even hit the fucking reset button; you locked the timeline into place when you challenged Jade to the game and she agreed to the terms. You’ve got two options though. Win the game and scratch, or lose and don’t come back.”_

“I’ve invested too much of my life in this universe,” John declares. “I guess I’ll just have to beat Jade at this. But how the hell do I evade her until TONIGHT?”

 _“You’ll figure it out.”_ Dave’s voice is weaker as he gently picks the sword up from the floor, angling it at his chest. _“You’re the leader, remember? You make the plans. You’ll win the game. Do what worked before and you got this.”_

John gives Dave a mournful look before flying down the hallway of the tower, trying to stop his tears when he hears a body hit the ground behind him. Somewhere in the distance, a clock stops ticking, and in his mind’s eye he can see the **Just** that settles over Dave’s corpse like a brand. 

_Focus, Egbert. Dave’s got a point; what worked last time I was up against a Grimbark Jade?_

John can still turn himself into wind, of course. And since dogs rely so heavily on their nose, if he turns himself into wind and scatters his essence across the universe, Jade’s gonna have a hard fucking time trying to find which one is the real him. 

With that in mind, he can feel the exact moment Jade arrives on Prospit with Rose at her side. The air crackles with electricity and there’s a gloom falling over the golden kingdom, sending shadows pouring into the streets and terrifying the carapaces. 

“Shit,” John swears as he pokes his head around a corner to see Rose float down the street, idly flicking her wands at carapaces, killing them immediately. Jade takes to the skies and calls out, **“C’mon John, I know you’re here! There’s only a few places you’d ever call home, but why would Prospit take you in? I was the one who made this kingdom my home! You slept for years and watched the world go by! I’m the rightful ruler of the throne!”**

“Suddenly this is a gamble for the throne?” John mutters to himself, tensing his entire body. He’s got only a few seconds before Jade figures out where he is; she’ll either allow Rose to go through herself as a gate, or warp into the room to get the jump on John herself. He’s gotta figure out what’ll happen first or else he’s fucked. 

_THERE!_

One tiny spark of green, and John poofs into the breeze. Jade’s talons slice the space where he was standing moments ago. **“FUCK YOU!”** Jade howls, whirling around to glare at the wisps of blue floating away. **“YOU’RE A COWARD, JOHN! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!”**

 _“You made my friend die, I’m not exactly in the mood!”_ John shouts, non-corporal voice wavering in and out. It’s been a while since he’s popped in and out of the breeze so he’s huffing with the strain of making sure not a single molecule is out of place. Going up against a feral Witch of Space was probably not a good move, but John’s been on a time crunch ever since he woke up this morning.

Outside, Rose continues to tear up the kingdom. Shadows drip from the Thorns of Oglogoth, still so sharp and still sparking with energy. She lets out a sad sigh as she feels the death of her brother echo in her chest, and pauses for only a brief moment to grieve. 

(She’s still torn up by the death of Kanaya, but the Horrorterrors are relentless in their croons and demands. Even though Rose Lalonde is a fucking force of nature, being taken over at the young age of thirteen was not kind to her. There were still ways to bypass her strong will and mind to ensure that she’d follow their orders again after asking one simple question.)

A lone carapacian notices the Seer of Light’s momentary hesitance and makes a run for it. This universe’s version of the Parcel Mistress, she slips into the cracks of the kingdom and hurries to the center of Prospit. It’s going to be a long shot, but if the Heir of Prospit were to have any shot at beating the corrupted Witch of Space, then anything would be helpful to his cause. 

She ignores the darkness crackling and sending buildings toppling down, the snarls of Jade Harley and the angry yells of John Egbert. She’s aware that today is a fluke; in the human’s terms, a Harvest Moon had risen the night before, and something spun their universe out of alignment. Tonight is _also_ Halloween, which means John Egbert is legitimately living a horror movie as of right now. 

The carapacian heads underground, ducking when rubble flies over her head and crashes into the walls. She just keeps rushing down and enters an empty space that sits in the black abyss. 

Deep in the center of Prospit’s moon, two Sacrificial Slabs sit side-by-side. PM ignores the cracked black one with the Space symbol glowing on it, and focuses on the windswept blue one with the symbol of Breath residing on it. 

Every PM in every universe is bound to be a goddamn menace. This is a simple fact of Paradox Space, whether it be for mail or to avenge a friend’s death. Hell, there’s an iteration of her that went after Bec Noir for a solid three years and _didn’t die._

So if PM comes up with a plan that could potentially work, Paradox Space has decreed that she’s got the best shot of achieving it. With that in mind, PM gets to work on her idea. 

Both moons of Prospit and Derse are connected to the actual planet by their incredibly long chains. If PM can get Prospit’s chain broken, she can get the moon to crash directly into the planet and destroy the Sacrificial Slabs. Maybe something programmed in Jade will force her to stop hunting down John and instead try to save her Slab before it’s too late. 

(SBURB doesn’t exactly work in this way, but the rules of this universe have been bent enough as it is. What is one more tug in a backwards direction?)

There’s a subtle whisper in the crevices of Prospit’s moon as PM tries to find something that’s strong enough to shatter the chains binding them to Prospit. After a solid minute with no success, a gentle tap on her shoulder scares the absolute shit out of her. 

She jumps even higher when she realizes that there’s an iteration of the Knight of Derse standing in front of her, holding out a solid white sword that seems to glow in the shimmer of golden walls. “Here,” Dave Strider offers, handing her the sword with a quirked lip. “Not sure why my future self was so insistent on giving this to you, but he said it was important. Anyways, this is Caledfwlch; this shit is so fuckin’ sharp, it can cut through anything and everything. It even broke Dirk’s Unbreakable Katana, but that might be because the blade was shitty. Who knows? Dirk won’t fucking fess up and I gotta strife him for the answer. Asshole. Later, random carapace.” 

Dave Strider pops back in time and PM stares after him, wondering if he felt his dead body in the halls of the tower, still so aware of every dead Dave that came to their untimely ends. Regardless of what he knew, she now has the sword and holds it close, letting out a quiet huff at the weight as she heads outside again. Trust the Time kid to be there when the world needs them. 

Rose Lalonde’s reign of terror has bypassed her location. Dead carapaces line the street with destroyed buildings scattered along the ground; in the distance, Rose makes her presence known with another bolt of darkness. 

PM swallows. It might be difficult for her to get the Heir of Breath’s attention, but she does her best when she watches John solidify for a few moments to duck and dodge another sharp swipe. The Witch of Space lets out a howl of frustration and vanishes into thin air again, leaving behind crackling electricity in her wake. 

John reappears close by her, panting and out of breath. PM takes her chance and hurries across rubble to tug gently on his shirt. John whirls around with the Zillyhoo in his grasp, only slacking when he spots the sword. “Is this Caledfwlch?” He breathes out, captchaloging his hammer and carefully taking hold of it. “Dave time-traveled for this again, huh. I owe him big time when this is all over. I hope he’s—FUCK!”

The Heir of Breath cries out as Jade’s claws finally rip four slashes across his chest, grinning as blood immediately starts dripping to the golden floor. **“Caught you,”** she coos, neon green eyes blazing. **“I win.”**

“Not yet you don’t!” John pants out, stumbling from the pain that’s lighting up in his chest. “You haven’t completely won yet; you still have to catch me!”

With Caledfwlch in hand, he disappears into the breeze as Jade jumps for him again, snarling when her grip turns up empty. **“Bastard,”** she growls, whipping in the direction of the chain. **“You fucking moron, what the HELL are you doing—”**

John’s still low on stamina and now losing blood at a steady rate as he holds Caledfwlch above the golden chain. “I really hope this works,” he mutters, raising it even higher. “If not, then I’m out of options.”

With a grunt and a slash down, Caledfwlch severs the link between Prospit and its moon. There’s a tightness that burns in John and Jade’s chest again; everyone on the surface can feel the gravity suddenly spiral, and the moon makes one turn towards the planet. 

**“You’re really going to try and kill us all?”** Jade asks in disbelief, feeling the tugging sensation in her chest grow stronger. All players, even if out of the game, are still connected to their beds. Jade’s god tier bed may have sat on the Land of Frost and Frogs, but her Prospit one still calls her home. 

“That’s a chance I’m willing to take,” John pants. He’s very, very tired. It’s taken a toll on him to go through SBURB in a whole day, cheat, and eventually win the damn game three years later. Even after SBURB, he has to be sure that his dreams won’t be haunted by the occasional dreambubble. (The meteor crew still dreams of long lost friends, since they’re the ones that navigated the field and constantly passed through them, and still weep for all the adventures they experienced and friends they lost.)

He’s always making sure that his friends (and himself) are safe, even with near-unconditional immortality. No child should grow up looking over their shoulder, and sometimes John sees flashes of past selves when he looks at his friends. Sometimes Jade’s teeth are too sharp and sometimes Jane’s eyes flash red, and he has to ground himself in reality again.

(And sometimes he sees steam curling off his body, his eyes whited out in his reflection for a John that sacrificed himself for the timeline. The very _first_ John that kickstarted off the entire process. John Egbert wonders if he’d make his younger self proud.)

So. With the knowledge that he _might_ not come back from this one, just to reset a timeline gone awry again, he uses his Breath powers to accelerate the velocity of the moon. Gravity does its infamous act, already locked in Prospit’s orbit, and sends it careening down. 

All John has to do is fly away, because although the tug in his chest calls to go save his Slab, he ultimately decides to lift PM out of the destruction and settle her into an old friend; his Rocket Pack from when he Alchemized it so many years ago. He makes sure she’s secure and not in the way of the moon as he hands over Caledfwlch, taking care that the blade doesn’t fall in Paradox Space. 

John turns back to observe the catastrophe that’s about to happen. 

On all accounts, this should be a breeze. Jade’s lunging for her Slab, energy dripping off her claws, and the broken moon is barreling down on her. If John doesn’t do anything, then he’ll easily win the game and everyone can go home. PM watches with baited breath, holding onto Caledfwlch. 

But John Egbert is the leader of their session above all else. He’s Prospit’s golden royalty, the boy who would jump in front of a weapon to save a friend, and goes to shove Jade out of the way of the burning moon, mouth set in a firm line.

The Harvest Moon settles below the horizon. 

A timeline snaps back into place. 

A clock breaks somewhere in the distance, the ticking coming to a complete stop, and something settles in John’s chest like relief as Jade holds on with sharp claws digging into his arm and shouting at the top of her lungs. Before John and Jade are crushed beneath the fiery wreckage of the moon (he’s having serious deja vu), he shouts, “I WON THE GAME!”

 **“SON OF A—”**

The world glitches out.

The moon crashes into Prospit again.

* * *

Something is right with the world again.

John has a good feeling of what it is. He wakes up the morning of Halloween and stretches, feeling his back pop as he lifts his arms above his head. Downstairs, Jane is singing a melody that he can’t place, but it’s comforting enough that he gets out of bed to float downstairs. 

“Good morning John!” Jane greets him with a bright smile, gesturing to the cookies she’s decorating with a flourish. “Jade, Roxy, and Calliope will be a bit late, as they worked hard last night for some last minute preparations and most likely overslept. Dirk’s still up in the air, but hopefully Jake will update us if he’s going to black out during the party or actually managed to sleep longer than three hours so he’ll be on time. Dave’s asleep on our couch with Karkat and Rose and Kanaya are on their way. Did I miss anything…?”

“Terezi and Vriska are off doing some weird shit,” John supplies, and laughs when Jane sighs. “Yes, I suppose that’s true. Would you want to help me finish drawing aspects on these cookies?”

There’s nothing John loves more than helping his family, so he nods eagerly and takes to decorating with a sort of robotic motion. As he pipes the red icing for Blood, John’s mind swirls with memories of last night.

He’s…he’s pretty sure he fought Jade in his dreams, and Dave and Rose were corrupted, energy crackling around their auras. There’s a glimpse of a sword in his memories, and a burning moon, but just as dreams are, they’re already fading away like breath on a mirror. 

“Shit,” John swears, making Jane look over at him confused. “Sorry! Just wondering what’s going on today. I slept weird and I can’t really remember right now.” 

“We’re having a pumpkin party,” Jane says with a quirk of her lips. “Jade’s idea, not mine. She wanted a horror movie marathon with lots of candy and fun activities, which means Kanaya and Rose are going all out on costumes and Roxy’s going to bring an infinite number of pumpkins. I took it upon myself to make the snacks, because I _refuse_ to bring store-bought candy into our Halloween night. Only the best for us and nothing less!”

“I expected nothing else,” John says warmly, and laughs when Jane affectionately nudges him with a roll of her eyes and a blush. They’re all working their asses off to give themselves the lives their childhoods never had, which included testing out god tier powers and doing dumb shit that teenagers would do. Even though they’re young adults now, they’ve all been killed at least once or twice; John’s pretty sure they all deserve to fuck around and have fun. 

Right as John reaches over to grab another batch of cookies, something _aches_ in his chest. John yelps and jerks back, hand going to his chest where it pulses and stings. “What the fuck?” He wheezes, hand clenching on his shirt. When he lifts his hand, there’s a mysterious dark liquid sticking his shirt to his chest that he quickly identifies as blood. 

“Did you cut yourself?” Jane gasps, hurrying over. “John! What happened?!” 

“Nothing!” John waves her off, holding his shirt as he hurries to the bathroom. “Probably isn’t a big deal! It’s okay! I got this, just keep making those cookies!”

He ignores her calls of concern and rips off his shirt in the bathroom, face slowly going ashen at the four vicious slices that carve lines in his chest. There’s jagged edges from something _feral,_ and he chokes down the bile that rises when he notices how deep they are. 

“John!” Jane pleads from outside the bathroom. “What’s going on? Can I help?”

“No, I’m okay.” He automatically replies. With the proof that his nightmare was actually real, he has to think about his options. Everyone’s obviously okay, and it looks like this timeline is good to go, but…

 _What if it happens again?_

The doorbell rings. Jane sighs and raps her knuckles on the door when they hear Dave groggily get up in the living room. “If you’re sure, then. That must be everyone else arriving; please let me know if you need anything, okay? I love you.”

“Love you too,” John replies, leaning his forehead against the door when he hears Jane walk away to greet their guests. He carefully rummages around the bathroom to search for the first-aid kit, sighing when he finds the gauze and tape. It takes a few minutes, but he secures the medical supplies over his chest and slaps a blue Band-Aid over another deep puncture wound that looks suspiciously like a claw on his arm. 

“Game time,” he whispers, and goes to see his friends.

Roxy’s greeting Dave and Karkat with Calliope at their side, laughing as Karkat makes a smartass remark regarding Roxy’s heart-shaped sunglasses and how they’re taking after Dirk and Dave. “Fuck you!” Roxy laughs, face scrunching up at the thought of it. “My boys are taking after me, thank you very much. I’ve got the best fashion sense out of all of us!”

“I’d like to give you a run for your money, Rox.” Rose comes floating in, trying to match her wife’s height as Kanaya still ducks below the doorframe. “I carefully coordinate every outfit to my liking; can you say the same?”

“Dear, you wore boxer shorts and a hoodie around the hive yesterday,” Kanaya murmurs, smiling when Rose tries to shush her. 

Roxy regards their Halloween costume; they’re wearing a giant dress that’s coated in planets, jet black boots reaching to their legs. Earrings dangle from their ears and Roxy just shrugs, showing off the Magic School Bus costume they threw together to the delight of Calliope. “It is...what it is.”

“Knock knock,” Dirk’s monotone voice calls out. He taps against the door and manages a smile as Roxy rushes him, shouting, “YOU’RE HERE! AND YOU’RE HERE _EARLY! WOW!”_

“Jade forced me out of the workshop.” Dirk rubs the bridge of his nose as he takes off his shades. Sure enough, there’s grease smudges on his fingers and eyelids from where he probably rubbed them. Jake pokes his head in with Jade next to him, and they’re welcomed inside with cheers and excited shoving. 

John _almost_ forgets about it while they’re getting ready for their party. It’s at the corner of his mind, but when his chest twinges again at a black shadow that curls off Rose’s shoulder, he forces himself to look at Jade. _It was just a dream,_ he tries to reason with himself again despite the evidence. _It was just a dream, it wasn’t real—_

Jade Harley looks at him, and John Egbert can only stare in shock and horror at the glitches that spark in his sister’s neon green eyes before a tiny ring of black surrounds them. 

“Hey John!” She says with a bright smile, fangs a bit too sharp for his liking. “Would you want to play a game tonight?”

**Author's Note:**

> At some point, Dave looks at Karkat, and knows that an iteration of him killed the love of his life. He'll hold him closer that night, try not to cry, and make sure he's loved.


End file.
